Pinkie Lobster Gets Lost in Time

Ophelia H.K. Singer

Murt Lobster was a pink lobster. He lived at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Everyone called him Pinkie because he looked so pink.

One day, while he was playing baseball for his high school baseball team, the Oceanopolis Crustaceans, he made a bunch of home runs.

Then it was the end of the game. Pinkie was the first person to go home.

At home, he fed his dogfish, Applehead, some small bony fish.

Suddenly, he heard a strange beeping noise in his yard! He rushed out to see what it was.

A UFO had landed in his yard! An alien walked out and advertised, "Our latest creation from the planet Flenus - the time machine! Costs three blags."

"What are blags?" questioned Pinkie.

"Blags are a kind of money people use in Flenus. What planet is this?" asked the alien.

"Earth," answered Pinkie.

"Earth...um..." murmured the alien. He looked in a book. "There are pesos, francs, dollars, pounds,...which one is used here?"

"H2O dollars, but people here call them dollars," replied Pinkie.

"H2O dollars...um...they're not in my book...oh, there they are. H2O dollars are a kind of money used in the Atlantic O-".

"Oh, just tell me about your time machine," Pinkie interrupted.

"What I'm trying to tell you is that three blags is the same as 26 H2O dollars."

"I'll buy it! Very cheap!"

Pinkie rushed into his rock house that was addressed "22223".

"Here! Twenty-six aquadollars!" he exclaimed.

"This time machine uses two XZ batteries...I mean C batteries."

Then, the alien took off in his UFO.

Pinkie was happy with his time machine.

The next day, he and Applehead hopped into it. Pinkie read the instruction manual, and they decided to go to Aquaollo 11 at the time of July 16, 1969.

He turned the machine on. There was a computer at the front of it. On the screen there was the word "WHERE?" He typed in "AQUAOLLO 11." Then, there was a beeping sound. The words "WHEN-DATE-YEAR?" were on the screen. Pinkie typed in "1969." On the screen "WHEN-DATE-MONTH?" He typed "JULY". Next, "WHEN-TIME-AM OR PM?" Pinkie's fingers were getting tired, but he managed to type "PM". Of course, the screen showed "WHEN-TIME-HOUR?" Pinkie sighed, "Applehead, I think this is a stupid machine," but not. Pinkie answered the next questions, and the machine started spinning like a tornado!

"Aaaaah!" he and Applehead yelled, frightened. "We're going to crash!"

CRAAASSSHH! but it was not crashing somewhere, it was crashing in time.

"I didn't remember bringing a model lobster, a model dogfish, and a strange-looking computer machine onto this spacecraft," muttered a voice. It was Neil Armshrimp talking to the other astronauts, Buzz Dolphin and Michael Clownfish.

"No, I am the famous baseball player. Murt Lobster. You may have heard of me as Pinkie Lobster," he replied.

"Oh."

"Now I'm leaving."

He pressed the "RETURN TO PREVIOUS TIME AND PLACE" button. He yawned.

He woke up to see Neil Armshrimp, Buzz Dolphin, and Michael Clownfish eating breakfast! He realized which button he had pressed. He also realized that Applehead was missing. While the machine traveled back, they passed Pinkie's house. Applehead had leaped off the machine.

Unfortunately, he had fallen in Jiffus's chimney.

"Huh? Applehead? In a spacesuit?" had asked a surprised Jiffus. Jiffus had undressed Applehead, and had put him in Pinkie's house.

Pinkie pressed some buttons to return to his home at the right time.

Pinkie's time machine landed in his front yard. There was a UFO in the air also about to land. An alien walked out and advertised, "Our latest creation from the planet Flenus - costs three blags."

There was another Pinkie Lobster standing in the same yard!

"Aaaah!" he screamed. "I went to the wrong time!"

Pinkie pressed some more buttons on the computer keyboard.

The time machine landed in Pinkie's chimney. Applehead barked at Pinkie and licked him in the face.